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The American Spirit

3.
 Born April 12, 1954
 American writer and
mountaineer
 Mostly known for writing about
the outdoors and/or mountain
climbing
 Other works include Into Thin
Air & Under the Banner of
Heaven
 Wrote for Outside and Rolling
Stone magazines
 Published Into the Wild in
1996

4.
Into the Wild is a non-fiction account of Chris
McCandless’s trek into the Alaskan wilderness and
his resulting death.

5.
McCandless was a young,
idealistic guy who forms a
life philosophy based on
his upbringing and his
reading in college.
It is important to know
that Alex = Chris.
Let’s read the Author’s
Note together.

6.
 A motif is a recurring structure in a literary
(or, artistic) work that helps to establish the
major themes.
 This one, however, is very prominent in real
life American culture.
 The American Spirit is embodied by:
1. irreverence (a lack of due respect)
2. breaking away from tradition
3. seeking adventure
4. striking out on one’s own
5. the desire to be completely free
6. the belief in the individual to overcome any
obstacle
7. questioning authority

7.
Over the course of this
unit, I am going to present
you with a variety of
meaningful quotes. I want
you to reflect on these
quotes in your blue packet.
(1) Put the quote in your own
words.
(2) Discuss its meaning.
(3) Apply it to your life.

8.
STAY HUNGRY.
STAY FOOLISH.
-Steve Jobs, at a commencement address at Stanford University in 2005
Green Line #1

9.
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living
someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by
dogma—which is living with the results of
other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of
others’ opinions drown out your own inner
voice. And most important, have the courage
to follow your heart and intuition. They
somehow already know what you truly want to
become. Everything else is secondary.”

10.
Who else, besides
Jobs, embodies
this idea of the
American Spirit?

11.
 Born 1819; died 1892
 One of the most influential
poets in American literature
 In between Transcendentalism
and Realism (the era that came
next); he incorporated both
styles in his work.
 Ralph Waldo Emerson and
Henry David Thoreau were
admirers of his writing.

12.
When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns
before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add,
divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured
with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

13.
1. Circle any words that you do not know.
2. The poem has two distinct, divergent parts. If you
had to divide it in half, where would you draw the
line? Do it now.
3. Underline all of the traditional math/science/school
words you see in part one.
4. Why does the persona get tired and sick?
5. Why do the lines in part one all start with the
repetition of “when”?
6. How would the persona prefer to examine the natural
world?
7. Where do you see any of the seven elements of “The
American Spirit” in this poem?

17.
It’s a philosophical movement
that developed in the 1830s
and 1840s as a protest to the
general state of culture and
society. McCandless was an
avid reader of works by the
American Transcendentalists.

18.
1. Humankind is inherently good.
2. Nature is a doorway to the spiritual world. God’s spirit
can be revealed through nature.
3. Society and its institutions—namely organized religion
and political parties—corrupt the purity of the
individual.
4. Adhering to authority is only second to maintaining
true individualism. Be yourself first.
5. Humankind is at its best when truly self-reliant and
independent.
6. Intuition is more important than rationalism. Living in
the moment is key.

19.
 Born 1803; died 1882
 He was a key contributor and
founder to the American
Transcendentalist Movement.
 He was exhilarated by nature’s
beauty and tranquility.
 He felt he was in tune with
himself when he communed
with nature.
 He encourages his readers to
look directly at nature for this
same purpose: to find yourself.
Day 2

21.
“Standing on the bare ground—
my head bathed by the [carefree]
air, and uplifted into infinite
space—all mean egotism
vanishes. I become a transparent
eyeball. I am nothing. I see all.”
Emerson had the desire to
absorb—and be absorbed into—
nature.

22.
 Where: Soccer Field
 Bring: Notebook and writing utensil—nothing else!
 Do Now: Write the following across the top of a
notebook page and sign it:
I AM A TRANSPARENT EYEBALL.
 Do Outside: Journal about your experience outside.
What do you notice? What do you feel? What are
you thinking about? How in tune with yourself are
you?
 Length: a notebook page; due at the end of the
hour

23.
How does an author tell us about a character?
1. Speech
o dialogue – conversation between characters
2. Appearance
3. Private Thoughts
4. How Other Characters Feel
5. Actions
o motivation – the reason a character thinks, feels,
or acts the way he/she does

24.
Direct – a writer tells us directly
what a character is like or what a
person’s motives are
Indirect – a writer shows us a
character but allows us to interpret
for ourselves the kind of person we
are meeting

25.
 When you directly quote from a text, you must add
an internal citation to the end of the quote.
 It is the author’s last name and page number you
found the quote inside parentheses.
“And he wasn’t a nutcase, he wasn’t a
sociopath, he wasn’t an outcast.
McCandless was something else—
although precisely what is hard to say. A
pilgrim, perhaps” (Krakauer 85).

27.
This is one of Emerson’s most famous
essays.
It was published in 1841.
It contains the most emphatic
statement of three of Emerson’s
ongoing themes:
oAvoid conformity!
oAvoid foolish consistency!
oFollow your own instincts and ideas!

28.
Emerson is famous for a
multitude of highly quotable
aphorisms.
An aphorism is a short and sweet
saying that communicates a
general truth, or perceptive
observation.

29.
 When you directly quote from a text, you must add
an internal citation to the end of the quote.
 It is the author’s last name and page number you
found the quote inside parentheses.
“And he wasn’t a nutcase, he wasn’t a
sociopath, he wasn’t an outcast.
McCandless was something else—
although precisely what is hard to say. A
pilgrim, perhaps” (Krakauer 85).

31.
Are the technological
advancements we have
today helpful or harmful
to humans as a whole?
 Make two lists in your Literature notes:
o At least five positives off the “going off the grid.”
• Examples: living in a warm house, easy access to food, etc.
o At least five negatives of “going off the grid.”
• Examples: reducing your carbon footprint, learning self-
reliance, etc.

32.
 Go one entire school day without your cell phone.
 Drop it off with me Monday morning before the
first bell. Pick it up right after school.
 Write a ten-line reflection on the experience (due
Tuesday).
o What changed for you?
o How did it affect you socially, emotionally, and
academically?
 You can receive up to 25 points of extra credit.

33.
“I went to the woods because I
wished to live deliberately…
I wanted to live deep and suck
out all the marrow of life…”
-Henry David Thoreau from Walden
Green Line #5

34.
 Born 1817; died 1862
 At the age of twenty-eight, Thoreau—a
Harvard graduate—seemed to be a
failure.
o failed attempt to be a schoolteacher
o uninspiring orator
o his girlfriend denied his proposal
o no interest in the family business
o close friends (like Emerson) had strong
doubts about his ambition

35.
 After all these “failures,” Thoreau went to live on his
buddy Emerson’s land, near Walden Pond.
 This two-year experiment was designed so Thoreau
could rediscover “the grandeur and heroism of a
simple life led close to nature” (Elements of
Literature 231).
 He wrote a book called Walden; in it, Thoreau
explores what is necessary to have a rich and
fulfilling life.
o He found that he could give up most luxuries of life.
o He found that most of his peers focused too much on
work.

36.
“Sometimes a man
wants to be stupid if it
lets him do a thing his
cleverness forbids.”-John Steinbeck from East of Eden
Green Line #6

37.
“The sea's only gifts are harsh blows, and, occasionally,
the chance to feel strong. Now, I don't know much
about the sea, but I do know that that's the way it is
here. And I also know how important it is in life not
necessarily to be strong, but to feel strong, to measure
yourself at least once, to find yourself at least once in
the most ancient of human conditions, facing the blind,
deaf stone alone with nothing to help you but your
hands and your own head.”
-Primo Levi